American Go E-Journal » 2011 » November

Over two dozen players – some in Halloween costume – participated in the 2011 Pumpkin Classic in Arlington, VA on October 29. The four-round handicap tournament was sponsored by the NOVA Go Club and Capital Go Club. Zhixiong Shi, Kabe Chin, Diego Pierrottet and Anderson Barreal won their respective divisions, taking home trophies as well as the traditional pumpkin.

In the 3-round Winsonet Greater Washington Team Go Competition — also held in Arlington on October 29 — Team Chinese American defeated Team USA 3-1, Team Korean American 3-1 and Team Taiwanese American 2-2 in a tie-break. Chinese anchor Lin Lu 7D was the only female player in the high-Dan competition and pulled out three impressive anchor wins against Juan Pablo Quizon 5D (US), Ray (Hsien-Ho) Chang 7D (Taiwan) and Jin Park 7D (Korea). Team Taiwanese American was the runner-up, beating Korea 3-1 and US 4-0. The USA team, which averaged 4D, was seemingly the underdog, but thanks to anchor Quizon and blitz player Joshua Lee 5D, took third place by winning over Koreans (2-2) who have two 6-dans and one 7-dan.

American Go E-Journal photographer Brian Allen has posted photos from this year’s U.S. Congress online. In addition to general photos of the 2011 Go Congress in Santa Barbara, CA, there are albums of the Youth Awards and the Korean Baduk Association awards. There’s also a nice album of Allen’s shots from the 2008 U.S. Go Congress in Portland, Oregon. Allen, who also manages the Seattle Go Center, is a professional photographer, so please be sure to carefully observe his restrictions/permissions on use of his images.photo by Brian Allen

Applications are now being accepted for the American Go Foundation(AGF) college scholarship.The program recognizes high school students who have served as important youth organizers and promoters for the go community . To apply, download and complete the application form here. Applicants should describe their accomplishments and volunteer work in a short essay. The deadline for applicants is November 20th. Letters of recommendation may also be included. Applicants whose enthusiasm and ambition have helped spread go in under-served areas will be given special consideration. Strong players who spend much of their time voluntarily teaching will also be considered, although the award focuses on promoters and organizers who have made substantial contributions during their go career. To read about former winners, check out Sensei #6.- EJ Youth Editor Paul Barchilon

Rumors of Ishi Press founder Richard Bozulich’s death, as Mark Twain once said, have turned out to be greatly exaggerated. Bozulich was indeed hospitalized, sources tell the E-Journal, “but he is at home and OK now.” In an email to Teddy Terpstra, Bozulich reported that “Although I was in the hospital for some surgery and experienced a minor glitch, I did survive. My ‘biographer’ did not wait around for the final prognosis and jumped to the conclusion that I had expired.” A clearly amused Bozulich signed off “Best regards from beyond the crypt,” with assurances that “I hope to be around for another 15 years or so.”

Go Game Guru — an Australia-based go website featuring go news, commentaries and more — has just opened an online go shop. “We want to make it easier and more affordable for everyone to buy go books,” GGG founder David Ormerod says. The GGG Go Shop catalogue currently includes two dozen popular Kiseido titles “and we have a go book competition to celebrate the opening of the shop,” Ormerod — a frequent contributor to the E-Journal — says. “If things go well we have plans for equipment, merchandise and on-demand video,” Ormerod adds. “We’ll also expand the number of locations we can ship from to continue reducing postage costs for everyone.” GGG first trialed the go bookshop idea back in June and Ormerod says “Our goals haven’t changed since then. Basically everything we’re doing is aimed at either introducing go to new players or helping existing players get stronger.” Ormerod adds that “Go Game Guru is still something of an experiment. Younggil and I started it based on the idea that you could build a self sustaining business around promoting go globally. We don’t ask for donations for this project, because then we’d be competing with go associations. If people want to donate money or time towards promoting go, I’d really encourage them to get involved with their local go association.” Ormerod says that GGG is an attempt to “build a business that provides useful services to the community and uses profits to promote go in online and traditional media – working with existing promoters like go associations.” Ormerod freely admitts that “Nobody really knows whether this theory will work — and there are very mixed opinions among people I know – (but) what we’re really trying to do is test the theory and find out (if it works).”

Reports of the death of Richard Bozulich(at left), Ishi Press founder and the father of the English-language go publishing industry, began circulating on the Internet last Saturday. Originating from a post on GoGameGuru, the report of Bozulich’s death at 75 quickly spread across Twitter and other social media and became a focus of discussion on Lifein19x19. The GoGameGuru post was based on an extensive obituary emailed to GGG which was marked “Special to the Japan Times,” however, we have been unable thus far to either find the obit on the Timeswebsite or independently confirm Bozulich’s death through our sources in Japan. Stay tuned for further updates as more information becomes available.
photo: Richard Bozulich (at left) with Neville Smythe, President of the Australian Go Association (center) and go writer John Power at the 2008 World Amateur Go Championships; photo by John Pinkerton.

The Lancaster Go Club hosted the Pennsylvania Open last weekend for the first time in almost a decade. The venue, the Summit Grove Camp and Retreat Center, “was a hit,” reports organizer Michael Rhone II. “It was the best value for a go tournament ever,” Keith Arnold said, “five games … two meals. It was a total bargain.” Players came from as far away as North Carolina, Delaware, and New Jersey, and there were over twenty players in attendance, with handicaps given in some instances, but many even games were played. There were plenty of choices for dinner locations at night, and rooms were right down the hall from the playing area. “Some of us stayed up to play casual games both Friday and Saturday night,” Rhone tells the E-Journal. “A great time was had by all.”

Ben Hakala took top honors in the October 29-30 Portland Go Tournament. Twenty six players — including three 6-dans and a 7-dan — participated in the tournament, held on the campus of Lewis & Clark College. While organizer Peter Drake laments that “the award for top female player was not awarded, as all 26 players were male,” he reports that Akane Negishi did stop by long enough to offer KGS Plus memberships to the top single- and double-digit kyu players.” Other prizes — books, boards, etc.– were supplied by Yellow Mountain Imports and Slate & Shell, both of whom offered generous discounts. David Fotland also donated a copy of The Many Faces of Go. “Plans are already forming for next year’s tournament,” Drake adds. “The strong players inquired about the possibility of an open division. There is also the possibility of increasing the number of rounds from five to seven — more than the US Open, crammed into two days. That would be a brutal feat of mental endurance, but why not?” Drake also notes that “The tournament tools at www.goclubs.org were enormously useful, especially in reporting results quickly to the AGA.”photo by Weitian Liu

The finalists for the 16th Samsung Cup were set on November 3. Won Seongjin 9P defeated Chen Yaoye 9P and Gu Li 9P eliminated Na Hyun 1P (a day earlier) in the quarter finals. The Samsung Cup quarter finals are played as a best of three match, rather than a straight knockout. Gu Li taught young talent Na Hyun a thing or two, defeating him in two straight games. Meanwhile, Won Seongjin and Chen Yaoye fought it out to the bitter end. Their third game was a 355 move epic, featuring numerous interesting moves and ko fights. This sets the stage for a China vs Korea final, which will surely be please the sponsor. The final will start on December 6, 2011. Check the Pro Go Calendar for details on the Samsung Cup and other tournaments as they’re added.

The recently-launched Central Mississippi Go Club (CMGO) is expanding to the Madison/Ridgeland area, reports organizer Greg Smith. “We’ve been requested to make a location convenient to a core group of go players in the (Ridgeland) area,” Smith tells the E-Journal. “We’re happy to comply!” Every fourth Tuesday, the club will meet at the Barnes & Noble off I55. “We had a great turnout” for the club’s first meeting November 1 at The Froghead Grill (off Springridge Road in Clinton), Smith adds. “We played a few games face-to-face, taught a new person how to play go, and we all planned to do it again next week. I couldn’t ask for more.” The AGA’s “help really allowed me to assemble an easy-to-transport ‘Go Box,’ making it very easy to host a meeting with a professional feel,” said Smith. “The resources at usgo.org have been invaluable, and (the AGA’s) personal assistance made it much easier to get the specific help I needed…I’m confident CMGO will be a hub for teaching and playing go in Central Mississippi for quite a while.”Photo:Future CMGO members Doss and Kirk play the first ever CMGO game.